The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary by John Nicholson
Based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert, presented by Ha Hum Ah Productions and The Minack Theatre
Emma Bovary is bored. She’s bored with her boring doctor husband, bored with her boring provincial village and bored with her role as a dutiful wife in (boring) nineteenth-century France. But Emma reads novels. Lots of novels. And in novels, life is much more fun… Now, four actors battle hilarious mishaps and misbehaving props to tell the (massively) tragic story of Madame Bovary.
Laugh and cry in equal measure as Emma Bovary chooses the wrong husband. Lose yourself in mesmeric love scenes featuring a stupendous collection of devastatingly handsome men. Question the impotence of women in a patriarchal, Victorian society (if you want). There will be vermin, visual absurdity, wild animals and a nun.
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary was published in 1856, prosecuted for obscenity and hailed as the greatest novel ever written.
Flaubert’s complex novel is given a refreshing shake up in this irreverent, irrepressible, and irresistible play.
Reviews:
★★★★★ The Cornishman
“A brilliant, very, very funny production, with a stellar cast of four playing multiple roles… It doesn’t come better than this.”
Audience feedback:
“Absolutely laugh out loud and sniggeringly hilarious.”
“Excellent. Funny and very entertaining. Acting was class.”
“Utterly amazing. We Laughed. We cried. May have to watch it again before the end of the run.”
“Stunning performance, laughed from start to finish.”
“Soooooo funny! Laughed all evening.”
